Chapter Twelve
Magnolia
ISHOULD TELL HIMit doesn’t matter. That we can get over everything from our pasts together, but that’s a cliché, and it’s probably a lie. No one ever truly gets over anything traumatic. We shove it down into the corners of our psyche and pray it doesn’t bubble up during inopportune times. Like when you want to have a sleepover for the first time. Or when you go on a first date. I think my honesty upfront about the divorce and affair is why we’re here right now. Existing in this unfamiliar territory of honesty and love stripped bare. It could just be perfect timing or destiny. Was my entire life planned before it began? If I had met Aidan Mixx earlier in my life would anything have changed? Would I never feel this all-consuming passion with anyone if one thing threw my path off course?
I’m still quivering, coming down from the last orgasm Aidan gave me, wrapped in a sheet, on the floor in his living room. The moon is shining in through the window, making the reality look a little more romantic than it actually is. I made a huge pallet bed on the floor with all of the blankets, pillows, and comforters I could find in his linen closet and on his bed. It’s not uncomfortable, it’s also not a bed, but he deserves to be understood. Even if it’s at the expense of my own comfort. “You can go sleep on the bed, Magnolia,” Aidan whispers into the dark space between our sweaty bodies. “You don’t have to stay here. In fact, I must insist you sleep comfortably.”
“This was my idea, I’ll remind you. I want to sleep where you are. I am perfectly comfortable right here.”
He pulls me toward him and tucks me into his big spoon. I sigh, and a little more security washes over me, his bicep now tucked under my head. I close my eyes against the physical and emotional exhaustion. I’m almost asleep when Aidan speaks lowly against my ear, “I didn’t tell you the most important thing.” His tone is provocative, a luring call I can’t resist. I turn in his arms to face him.
I kiss his lips that still taste like me. “I love you, Magnolia.”
I grin at his proclamation. “You do?”
“I said it didn’t I?” he replies. He kisses me once more. “I always mean what I say.”
“I was the one who told you to love me,” I add.
“You can’t control me, woman,” Aidan growls, taking my lip between his teeth. “I love who I want.”
“You’ve loved many women in your past?” I pull away so I can see his gaze in the dim light.
Aidan shakes his head. “Only you could turn this life-shattering moment for me into an inquisition.”
“No,” I counter. “I need to know so I know how seriously I should take it.” Smiling, I run my hand through his messy hair.
He sighs, and it’s kind of a groan. “If you flipped through my mental dictionary there would be a photo of you next to the word love. Just a photo of you.”
Grinning, I ask, “Am I naked though? In the picture next to the definition?”
“You’re impossible.” He controls my hea, and forces me into a passionate kiss.
He leaves me gasping for air—dizzy with emotion. “I love you, Aidan.”
He leans in to kiss me once more, slowly this time. I can’t tell you how much time passes before we eventually fall asleep. When I wake to the morning sun blazing in the windows, his heavy arms are still wrapped around my body. I’m hyper-aware of every place his skin meets mine and how his breaths seem to align with my own.
I sneak my hand out of the tangled sheet to reach my phone to check I haven’t missed any calls or texts from Kendall. “Don’t think about leaving me,” Aidan says. “Weren’t we going to work out?”
“So bossy. You know I work on the weekends,” I say. “We slept in too long, and orgasms took precedence over the workout. You can come and hang at the shop with me. I have about a dozen orders I need to get ready to ship. I’d never say no to an extra pair of hands.”
My statement gave him other ideas. Aidan slides his warm hand down the side of my body and wedges my legs apart to work his fingers against my clit. I moan out. “Yeah, I’d never say no to these hands,” I correct, panting.
He pulls away, dragging his fingers up my stomach. “That could be fun.”
It takes a lot of effort, but I roll away from him. “I have to get stuff done. For real. You can’t distract me all day and anyways, I was thinking,” I say, pausing as I gaze at his huge frame barely covered by the dainty sheet. He is a walking, talking, magnificent distraction. One I’ll probably always be fussed by.
Aidan folds his arms behind his head. “Thinking isn’t good for you.” He smirks, appraising my naked form with glee.
“If you think it’s a good idea, maybe it’s time for you to meet Kendall? She gets back from camp tonight. We could have dinner at the house and see what kind of awkwardness ensues. Or if you’d rather not meet her, I understand that too. It’s just that I’m confident that the way I feel about you isn’t going to change anytime in the foreseeable future and if I’m gauging things right you feel pretty ardently as well?”
“You are precisely correct, madam.”
“Then you think this is the right thing to do? To introduce you to her? I’ve checked most of the internal boxes. I’ve met your friends, I know your backstory, you live by a moral code at least with regard to your profession. You probably have a clean background check.”
“I’m even CPR certified and have a negative TB test on file,” Aidan quips, his smile growing, dimples popping. “I’d be honored to meet her. We can play it cool. However you want. Depending on what you’re comfortable telling her. I can be long lost Uncle Slappy, or the guy who is going to help you spruce up the house and fix the garbage disposal, I’ll be whoever you want me to be. This is all you, baby.” He bites his lip after he calls me baby, unsure if he can get away with it.
I swing my hands on my hips and his gaze follows my movement. “Or I can be the man who spends the night and makes her mom scream all night long.” He rolls over to his side and props his head on his hand, waiting for my response like an excited schoolboy.
